Press Clippings
Archive: Ensemble Musical Offering Appointed as Episcopal Cathedral Artists-in-Residence
Archive: VIVALDI PROJECT CONTINUES AS THE LANGUAGE OF BACH BEGINS
Archive: Musical Offering
Christmas Program Features Works by JS Bach and Son, CPE Bach
Archive:
Musical Offering November Concerts
Feature Izquierdo and Parsley Performing Works for Classical Guitar and
Fortepiano
Archive:
Musical Offering Expands Chamber Music Series on
Original Instruments
Archive:
Ensemble Musical
Offering's Mirabel Quartet Program takes a twist
Archive:
Champions of the Classical Guitar
Archive:
Musical Offering rings in the New Year
with Bach and Sons
Archive:
Beethoven, both mini and mighty
Archive:
2007-'08 SEASON ‘Home girl’ Parsley back at it with more hausmusik
Archive:
Wauwatosa home will play host to Biedermeier hausmusik
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Ensemble Musical Offering Appointed as Episcopal Cathedral Artists-in-Residence
MILWAUKEE, WI, August 30, 2011… Ensemble Musical Offering, Milwaukee’s Midwest Bande for Early Music, has been re-appointed Artists-in-Residence at the Cathedral Church of All Saints, 818 E. Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The appointment was announced last week by The Very Reverend Kevin C. Carroll, Dean of the Cathedral. “Scripture tells us that humankind is made in the image and likeness of God,” Carroll offers. “All that God creates is beautiful – and music, as part of humanity’s participation in God’s creative process, is an important part of our Anglican (Episcopal) heritage. We are pleased to rekindle this relationship with Ensemble Musical Offering, and look forward to the fruits of this artistic partnership.”
The renewed appointment of Ensemble Musical Offering is significant to both organizations which have had a strong shared history, as the Ensemble was Artists-in-Residence during the administration of the Very Reverend George Hillman, Dean from 1998 to 2007. During that time, Ensemble Musical Offering produced the multi-year The American Bach Project. The Project consistently brought the vocal and instrumental music of J.S. Bach and his circle to life in Milwaukee for the first time. Performances, produced entirely by the Ensemble’s elite group of early music professionals, showcased Bach’s magnificent chamber music and sacred vocal works using original 17th- and 18th-century instruments and historically-informed practice techniques.
In the Ensemble’s relationship with the Cathedral, Artistic Director Joan Parsley will collaborate with Canon Joseph A. Kucharski, Precentor, who directs the Cathedral Choir to identify opportunities for the Ensemble and the Choir to cooperate in presenting the music of the period. “Within settings both of performance and worship, there are points where each of our strengths can magnify one another – always in an effort to share the composer’s vision,” explains Parsley. As Artists-in-Residence at All Saints’, “we have the opportunity to expand our local presence in Milwaukee, become part of the Cathedral family, and to continue to grow in our vital role in the artistic development of the Greater Milwaukee area.”
Ensemble Musical Offering will open its 2011-2012 season at the Cathedral on September 10th, presenting “J.S. Bach & A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11.” This memorial event will introduce Bach cantatas written for funereal occasions. Looking ahead, plans are already being laid for the 2012-2013 season, when Ensemble Musical Offering adds the baroque composer Georg Philip Handel to its Bach circle of performances.
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VIVALDI PROJECT CONTINUES AS THE LANGUAGE OF BACH BEGINS
WAUWATOSA, WI, May 11, 2011…Ensemble Musical Offering, Milwaukee’s Midwest Bande for Early Music, announces its 2011-2012 season and the 25th anniversary of Founder/ Artistic Director Joan Parsley’s work in the early music industry. The 2011-2012 season will continue with Part III of The Vivaldi Project: The Composer’s Affinity to the Natural World ~ The Eight Seasons and the beginning of The Language of Bach: A Community Conversation. In addition to four sets of concerts and pre-concert events, the new Community Conversations component, an evening of lectures, listening and discussions,will be available as a separate season offering.
We are delighted with Musical Offering’s ability to rebirth the Ensemble in less than a year; the organization has built a hand-picked roster of wind, string and keyboard players now numbering 25 for the upcoming season who live in Milwaukee and the Midwest. “We have definitely become Milwaukee’s Midwest Bande for early music,” states Parsley. “I have never witnessed this amount of exceptional early music professionals who have moved to the Midwest and want to audition for the Ensemble. The talent pool is rather amazing!”
The 2011-2012 Musical Offering concert season includes performances at the Cathedral of All Saints, 818 E. Juneau Ave, in Milwaukee, the official home of Ensemble Musical Offering, as well as the Wauwatosa Woman’s Club, 1626 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Wauwatosa. “The return to the Cathedral of All Saints as our home base is a welcome move for the Ensemble as we continue to bring new audiences to the Cathedral and work in an exceptional environment on Cathedral projects including performances during select Cathedral church services. The Ensemble will also integrate the Cathedral Choir into its Bach cantata work. In addition, the Cathedral will also become one of the sites for the Bach Community Conservations series. Ensemble Musical Offering is best known for its four-year American Bach Project at The Cathedral of All Saints held 1998-2003.
The concert schedule and pre-concert lecture information for Musical Offering’s 2011-2012 season is as follows:
Familiar to Musical Offering audiences over the years, German scholar Sylvester Kreilein, Ph.D. Marquette University High School Department of Foreign Languages and Goethe House Wisconsin, will lead the pre-concert lectures prior to concert performances. The lectures will deal with the historical aspects and social customs of Germany during the time of JS Bach.
September 10 JS Bach and A Tribute To The Victims of 9/11
Catheral Church of All Saints, 8 PM Pre-concert talk 7 PM
The performances include JS Bach’s drama per musica BWV 106 Actus Tragicus (God’s Time is the Best Time) and Cantata BWV 82, Ich Habe Gunug (I Have Enough) as well as Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 BWV 1023 and the Sonata in C, BWV 1005 for unaccompanied violin. Cathedral organist Joseph Kucharski will perform works by Bach on the Cathedral’s Pepper-Graves Memorial Organ. The Cathedral’s Bells of Remembrance and Hope, dedicated in June 2007 to the victims of 9/11 and a world free of violence and terrorism, will be rung to open the program.
September 11 JS Bach and A Tribute To The Victims of 9/11
Wauwatosa Woman’s Club, 4 PM Pre-concert talk 3 PM
Repeat concert. Taking the place of organist Joe Kucharski at the Wauwatosa Woman’s Club is Bayan/accordian player Stas Venglevski who will perform Bach masterworks transcribed from the organ literature of Bach.
October 1 The Eight Seasons
Cathedral Church of All Saints, 8 PM Pre-concert talk 7 PM
October 2 The Eight Seasons
Wauwatosa Woman’s Club, 4 PM Pre-concert talk 3 PM
These concerts mark Part III of the Ensemble’s popular The Vivaldi Project. Here, Vivaldi meets the contemporary South American tango composer Astor Piazzolla. The Eight Seasons, as previously announced, juxtapositions Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagione (The Four Seasons, Opus 8, Nos. 1 to 4), against Asto Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. An integral function of Vivaldi’s highly acclaimed work are the sonnets written as part of each movement of the four concertos. Most probably written by Vivaldi himself, the sonnets have made The Four Seasons the most popular part of the classical repertoire of programmatic music ever written. They will be read in Italian with English translations printed in the program book.
Back by popular demand, guitarist Rene Izquierdo and recorder virtuoso Clea Galhano, who performed in Part I of The Vivaldi Project, will give a fundraising evening of tango music as a prelude to the concerts on Saturday, September 17 at 8 PM. A Save the Date card with all the details will be mailed this summer to all Musical Offering patrons and those who call the Musical Offering office.
December 3 Gloria! Bach and the Glorious Music of the Baroque
Cathedral Church of All Saints, 8 PM Pre-concert talk 7 PM
What better way to mark the holiday season than with the music of JS Bach and Antonio Vivaldi, the baroque composer most studied by Bach. Highlights of the performances include Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 BWV 1047, Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in E Major, RV 270 (Il riposo- per il Natale), Cantata BWV 51, Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen (Acclaim God in All Lands) as well as a concerto for two harpsichords. This performance will be followed by Evensong at The Cathedral of All Saints on Monday, December 5 at 7:00 PM.
December 4 Gloria! Bach and the Glorious Music of the Baroque
Wauwatosa Woman’s Club 4 PM Pre-concert talk 3 PM
Repeat Concert
April 13, 2012 (Friday) The Coffee and Wedding Cantatas: Social Commentary of the Day
Cathedral Church of All Saints, 8 PM Pre-concert talk 7 PM
April 14, 2012 (Saturday) Repeat Concert
Wauwatosa Woman’s Club, 4 PM Pre-concert talk 3 PM
Drinking coffee, especially by women, was considered “verboten” in Bach’s world. Musical Offering sheds new light on this social commentary, Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211 composed by JS Bach. The program will also include one of three Hochzeitskantaten (wedding cantatas). BWV 202, Weichet nur, betreubte Schatten (Hence, dismal shadows) was most probably written for Anna Magdalena, the composer’s second wife who was a more than competent soprano in her own right. The performances will be followed by an RSVP wedding reception….with coffee, of course.
In addition to the concerts, a new lecture/study and discussion series regarding JS Bach and his music, will be offered as a separate part of The Language of Bach: A Community Conversation. Four events will take a microscopic look at the chamber music and cantata literature of JS Bach through recordings, instrument demonstrations and specific exploration of the source materials Bach used in his compositional process. A look at how the composer borrowed music from himself and others in order to complete his works will also be included. The discussions will be lead by Artistic Director Joan Parsley and Professor Emeritus UW-Madison Richard Rangler. Locations in Wauwatosa and the Greater Milwaukee Area and dates one week prior to the concerts will be announced separately.
The four-concert/pre-concert lecture subscription package is now available at www.musicalofferingltd.org and is $100 plus handling fee. The separate four Bach Community Conversation subscription package is $60. Advance single tickets for the concerts are $30; Bach Community Conversations are $18. Concert tickets at the door are $35; $20 for fulltime students with photo identification. Group discounts are available. Tickets for all events may be ordered through the office of Musical Offering by calling 414-258-6133 or writing to musical.offering@yahoo.com as well as through the website at www.musicalofferingltd.org
Partial funding for The Language of Bach: A Community Conversation comes from the Theodore and Anna Grollmann Fund as part of The Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Herbert H. Kohl Charities.
For more information, contact Musical Offering Ltd. at 414-258-6133 or write to musical.offering@yahoo.com.
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Musical Offering Christmas Program Features Works
by JS Bach and Son, CPE Bach
Wauwatosa,
WI,
December 10, 2008.....Baroque composer
extraordinaire Johann Sebastian Bach, father of our western musical
culture, had 22 children. Music by father and
son Carl Philipp Emanuel, will be featured on the December 20 and 21
programs titled,
Bach: A
Christmas Family Affair,
produced
by Ensemble Musical Offering, Milwaukee's
Midwest
bande for early music. Musicians will perform works for Baroque
flute, violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord.
Both
concerts will be held in Wauwatosa
venues: December 20 at the music salon of Artistic
Director Joan Parsley,
157
N. 87th
Street
in
Wauwatosa's
Ravenswood and on December 21 at the Wauwatosa Historical Society's
Kneeland Walker House,
7406 Hillcrest Drive. Both events begin at 4 PM with a holiday
reception followed by the chamber music concerts.
The Ensemble is pleased to
introduce Emi Tanabe, baroque violin, to the Greater Milwaukee
Community.
Originally from
Japan,
Tanabe resides in
Chicago.
She is also known for her work in performing
jazz and Celtic music. As well as her work with Ensemble Musical
Offering, Tanabe also performs with the early music ensemble Apollo's
Fire based in
Cleveland,
Ohio.
Featured on the program along
with Tanabe are Paul Jacobson, baroque flute; Debra Lonergan, viola da
gamba; and Joan Parsley, Artistic Director/harpsichord. The program will
include CPE Bach trio sonatas composed as music from the Court of
Frederick the Great, and testament to the Prussian monarch's devotion to
the arts. In 1735,
Frederick
began to hire court musicians starting with his own flute teacher Joseph
Quantz. With his rise to the
throne in 1740,
Frederick's court became the
center of musical culture in
Western Europe.
CPE Bach, hired as court composer and principal harpsichordist to
accompany the King, worked there for nearly 30 years, despite the
tensions between Frederick and his subject.
In the last two decades of his
life, CPE enjoyed a significant, well-deserved reputation in Hamburg,
Germany, where he was the head of music for the city's five churches. Charles Burney, the
great Bach family historian wrote that CPE Bach managed to develop his
own personal despite being under utilized by
Frederick
and flourished to "triumph over the weaknesses of the art and atmosphere
of his own period."
Ensemble Musical Offering's
program will also include major works for solo harpsichord including JS
Bach's Tocatta in D Major, BWV 912. Composed ca. 1710
during Bach's
Weimar
period, this tocatta along with the others from the period is taken from
one of the autograph copies as no manuscript exists.
Partita II in d minor, BWV 1004 for
unaccompanied violin the and Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord in c
minor, BWV 1017, are taken from the composer's period in Cöthen between
1717 and 1723.
Tickets are 2 for $40; singles
$25.
For information and
reservations, call Musical Offering Ltd. at 414-258-6133 or write to
musical.offering@yahoo.com. Concert preview and artist bios can be found
on the web at www.musicalofferingltd.org
The mission of Musical
Offering Ltd. is to foster appreciation for early music, circa
1580-1850, through performance on original instruments and using
historical performance techniques, education activities and outreach
opportunities. Artistic Director Joan
Parsley has presented and produced early music concerts and related
humanities events in Milwaukee
since 1986.
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Musical Offering November
Concerts Feature Izquierdo and Parsley Performing Works for Classical
Guitar and Fortepiano
WAUWATOSA,
WI,
NOVEMBER 22, 2008....In their second concert together, famed classical
guitarist Rene Izquierdo,
Lecturer, UW-Milwaukee guitar program,
performs
with Joan Parsley,
Artistic Director/forepiano of Musical Offering, in a set of two
concerts which span the Baroque to late Classical repertoire for guitar.
The concerts will feature the works of Domenico Scarlatti, JS Bach
(transcribed for classical guitar), as well as
Ferdinando Carulli and the French composer,
Napoléon Coste.
Titled
Baroque Beauty and Classical Gas!,
Izquierdo and Parsley will open the set of concerts
on Saturday, November 22 at the Wisconsin Conservatory's Helen Bader
Recital Hall,
1584 N. Prospect Avenue
in Milwaukee.
On Sunday, November 23,
the concert is slated at the Wauwatosa
Historical Society's Kneeland Walker House, a new venue for Musical
Offering.
the Kneeland Walker House is located at
7406 Hillcrest Drive
in
Wauwatosa.
Both events begin at 4 PM with a pre-concert
reception.
Last season's concerts with Izquierdo were
sold out.
The programs will feature:
Sonata in G Major, K. 14 by Domenico Scarlatti
Prelude from
Partita III for Solo Violin in E Major, BWV 1006
by JS Bach
Grande Duos Opp. 70 in D Major and 86 in E minor for
Fortepiano and Guitar by Ferdinando Carulli, and
Andante et Polonaise by Napoléon Coste
In honor of
the celebration of Parsley's 20th
year in
Milwaukee
presenting and producing early music,
Musical Offering has priced single tickets
at $20 each;
Two-For-One tickets are available for $30
and may be ordered at the office of Musical Offering by calling
414-258-6133 or writing to
musical.offering@yahoo.com.
Because of the intimate nature of
Wauwatosa's
Kneeland Walker House, reservations are recommended.
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Musical
Offering Expands Chamber Music Series on Original Instruments
Wauwatosa, WI, July 10,
2008….Ensemble Musical Offering, Milwaukee’s Midwest Bande for Early
Music, will expand its chamber music series to include venues throughout
Milwaukee County. broaden its repertoire, and perform its first live
broadcast during the 2008-2009 season.
“We want to make early music more
accessible to the public while not compromising the intimacy and
integrity of the series itself,” according to Joan Parsley, Artistic
Director/Founder.
Over the past two seasons, the
Ensemble and guest artists who perform on original instruments have
focused their attention on the development of chamber music of Germany,
Austria and Italy. It produced its series in the music salon of Joan
Parsley, a Wauwatosa resident who created a nineteenth century music
salon in her home, complete with historical Viennese hand painted
wallpaper and antique fixtures, keeping true to the context in which the
music was performed in Vienna.
During the recent season, the
reservation-only series filled the salon and the organization chose to
expand the series into other larger, yet intimate settings. These
include the Helen Bader Recital Hall, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
(once a private residence); the Wauwatosa Historical Society at the
Kneeland Walker House; and the Steinway Piano Gallery of Milwaukee who
is the Ensemble’s first corporate sponsor. Intimate concerts will also
take place in Parsley’s salon, but only during the holiday season. The
Ensemble has been welcomed back to All Saints Cathedral where it was
residence from 1998-2003. All Saints is the most appropriate venue and
provides the best acoustics to launch Musical Offering’s special venture
– The Vivaldi Project:
The Composer’s Affinity to the
Natural World which will open in May 2009 and span the 2009-2010 season
as well.
See the
Season Schedule for concert details.
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Ensemble Musical
Offering's Mirabel Quartet Program takes a twist
MILWAUKEE, WI, MAY 8,
2008……..Necessary changes have been made in Ensemble Musical Offering’s
Mirabel Quartet concert slated May 17 and 18 at the Wisconsin
Conservatory of Music and the Wauwatosa home of Artistic Director, Joan
Parsley.
Due to an emergency health-related
situation with first violinist Martha Perry, the original program, which
included Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet, has been canceled and the program
has changed as well as dates slightly altered for the performance. The
new program will be within keeping of its Germanic nature, however.
The Ensemble will now play a program
of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven on May 18 at the home of Artistic
Director Joan Parsley. The new program includes a Haydn Piano Trio in F
major, Hob.XV No. 6, Mozart’s violin sonata in E minor written shortly
after the composer’s mother died in Paris, and Beethoven’s WoO 32,
E-flat major duo subtitled “Duett mit zwei obligaten Augenglaasern ”
(with two pairs of obbligato eyeglasses) as well as Haydn’s F minor
Variations for fortepiano. Beethoven’s duet is scored for viola and
cello. The sub-title refers to the spectacles both Beethoven and his
cellist needed to wear to perform the work!
Musicians are William Bauer, violin
and viola, Debra Lonergan, cello and Joan Parsley, fortepiano. All will
perform on instruments from the Classical period.
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Archive:
Champions of Classical Guitar
Posted: March 17. 2008
By JOHN JAHN
Sheperd Express
Classical Preview
Among
the composers most well known to classical
music lovers are probably not Ferdinando
Carulli (1770-1841) or Fernando Sor
(1778-1839), even though combined they
account for more than works for the guitar.
But therein lies the reason, perhaps, that
they aren’t better known: The guitar has (as
far as Classical Music is concerned) always
been something of the ugly stepsister
amongst the instruments. In its upcoming
concerts, Musical Offering, Ltd., hopes to
give the classical guitar its due.
The Italian-born Carulli took up the guitar
when he was in his 20s and once converted,
sought to develop the guitar as a
first-class classical instrument. To this
end, he had to study on his own and even had
to largely self-publish his compositions. In
his quest to popularize the guitar, Carulli
didn’t mind borrowing well known tunes from
his famous predecessors—case in point being
his Variations de Beethoven, Op. 169, which
is itself a set of variations Beethoven
composed (Op. 66) to the aria “Ein Maadchen
oder Weibchen” from the opera Die
Zauberfluute by Mozart. Musical Offering
performs this work as well as Carulli’s
Nocturne in D Minor, Op. 131. The
Spanish-born Sor didn’t become quite the
guitar-exclusive composer that Carulli was,
however he is remembered today chiefly for
more than 100 works he composed for the
instrument that remain a vital part of the
guitar repertory. Sor’s various rondos,
divertimentos, polonaises and fantasies are
similar to those of his near-contemporary
Carulli, but Sor deliberately composed works
intended for beginners as well as a
decidedly more challenging set of works
aimed at the accomplished guitarist. Musical
Offering performs Sor’s Fantaisie, Op. 54.
Niccol Paganini (1782-1840) is known as the
greatest violin virtuoso who ever lived, and
his compositions largely reflect upon that
career, but he dabbled in other instruments
as well, including the guitar. A
particularly potent blending of both
instruments can be found in his 1808 Grand
Sonata in A Major for Guitar & Violin, Op.
Posth. 35, in which—perhaps surprisingly—the
guitar part is raised to a level equal to or
even above that of Paganini’s beloved
violin. In a unique segment of the Romanza,
he turns the tables as the guitarist assumes
a lovely, melancholic tune while the
violinist is called upon to pluck the
violin’s strings in accompaniment! Musical
Offering’s artistic director and
accomplished keyboardist Joan Parsley is
joined for this concert by Cuban-born
classical guitarist Rene Izquierdo, and
guitarist Elina Chekan of Minsk, Belarus.
Izquierdo earned his Master of Music and
Artist Diploma from Yale University, and is
presently professor of classical guitar at
Wisconsin State University in Milwaukee. He
won the JoAnn Faletta International Guitar
Competition in 2004. Chekan directs the
Pre-College Division’s Guitar Program at
UW-Milwaukee, and also attained her Master
of Music
This concert of rare works for classical
guitar takes place on March 15 and 16 at 157
N.87th St., Wauwatosa. For tickets and more
information please call (414) 258-6133. The
concerts are preceded by an opening Jause
(Viennese reception).
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Archive:
Musical Offering rings in the New Year
with Bach and Sons
WAUWATOSA, WI, December 14, 2007
Musical Offering Ltd.,
Milwaukee’s producer of early music, will bring in the New Year with
concerts featuring the music of J.S. Bach (1685-1750) and son in two
Hausmusik performances on Saturday, December 29 and Sunday,
December 30 at 4:00 PM. The concerts, including a holiday
reception, will be held at 157 North 87th Street in
Wauwatosa, WI, the home of Artistic Director Joan Parsley.
Ensemble Musical Offering’s
musicians for the third concert of the 2007-2008 season include mezzo
soprano Cornelia Beilke, harpsichordist/fortepianist
Joan
Parsley and violoncellist
Debra Lonergan. (see Attached
bios.)
According to Parsley, “What would
the world be without Bach?” Over the years, Musical Offering Ltd. dba
Milwaukee Baroque produced the five-year American Bach Project
held at All Saints’ Cathedral in downtown Milwaukee where the ensemble
was Artists-In-Residence. This concert, however, features more of the
intimate chamber music for solo voice with continuo as well as for solo
keyboard itself.
Most of the works will be taken from
JS Bach’s 1725 Anna Magdelena Notebook, the composer’s Christmas
Oratorio as well as CPE Bach’s Character Pieces and his 30 Geistliche
Lieder. Both a secular as well as sacred program, the audience will
have an opportunity to hear some of J.S. Bach’s best known and most
loved compositions he wrote and/or collected and gave to his second
wife, Anna Magdelena as a tribute of the composer’s admiration for her.
The collection also includes works by other composers such as ,”Bist du
bei mir” (BWV 508) written by J.S. Bach’s colleague, Gottfried Heinrich
Stoeltzel, but often attributed to JS Bach himself. Parsley will
perform French Suite BWV 812 that was copied by Anna Magdelana and
included in the collection, other Preludes (BWV 846/1) as well as the
Aria from the Goldberg Variations (BWV988/1).
Beilke will add her voice to the
Aria di Giovannini, Willst du dein Herz mire schenken (BWV 518) and the
Air, So oft ich meine Tobackspfeife (BWV 515 b). In addition, the
recitatives and arias for mezzo from JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio will
be performed.
As the trio moves forward in time,
the music of CPE Bach (1714-1788) will be showcased in his Character
Pieces for fortepiano and sacred vocal literature, Geistliche Lieder,
which portrays songs for Christmas, the New Year, The World at Court,
and Evensong written by the eminent German theologian, philosopher and
writer of the day, Christian Furchtegott Gellert. (Furchtegott=God
fearing!!) In 1751, the University of Leipzig appointed Gellertg
Associate
Professor of Poetry, Rhetoric and
Morals: he owed the appointment to his fame as a writer of fables and
is said to have over 500 students at the time. Goethe noted that
Gellert’s moral teaching was the “foundation of German ethical
culture.” Needless to say, Gellert was among the most well-read authors
of his time.
Ticket reservations for the New
Year’s weekend event are $35. It is recommended to reserve in advance
as seating is limited. Reservations may be made by calling 414-258-6133
or by e-mail to
musical.offering@yahoo.com. Checks made payable to Musical Offering
Ltd. may be mailed to the office at 157 N. 87th Street,
Wauwatosa, WI 53226. Musical Offering’s website at
www.musicalofferingltd.org gives details of the season and the
organization
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Archive:
Beethoven, both mini and mighty
By TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: Dec. 8, 2007
A re-creation of a little five-octave Stein
fortepiano, circa 1780, stood beside a mammoth Steinway grand Saturday
afternoon at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Steven Lubin played
Beethoven on both, clattering on the Stein and booming on the Steinway.
Musical Offering, the presenting organization, had
hoped to have Lubin play on a middle-ground instrument, a
six-and-a-half-octave Graf fortepiano, of the type that Beethoven would
have known in the 1820s. But all parties were skittish about shipping it
on icy roads from Minneapolis.
Lubin, who built his considerable reputation on period
keyboards, was fine with that. He said he was pleased to play
Beethoven's Sonatas Nos. 21, 22 and 23 on the modern grand. He thought
Sonata No. 21 ("Waldstein") an especially good fit for the Steinway,
though such instruments did not exist in 1804, when Beethoven composed
the piece.
"This sonata is why modern pianos were invented," he
said, exaggerating only slightly.
Lubin explained that the "Waldstein," the starting gun
of Beethoven's Middle Period, holds a key place in music history. Its
wide-ranging key plan broke with tradition and opened the door to the
musical Wild West that was Romanticism. Lubin's furious, explosive
performance, as much as his analysis, made the theory stick.
Beethoven often went wild in one piece and colored
well within the lines in the next. Lubin played the two-movement Sonata
No. 22, gentle and subtle compared with No. 21, to demonstrate that
tendency. He played it on the Steinway, then repeated a good bit of it
on the Stein. It does fit the smaller instrument, in both compass and
spirit. On the Stein, No. 22 sounded like a bright and modest throwback
to the 1780s or even to Baroque practice.
Had he attempted the forward-looking No. 23 ("Appassionata")
on the Stein, he would have pounded it into kindling. This is big music
for a big piano, and that's how Lubin played it. A memory lapse in the
finale barely reduced the power of his muscular reading.
Lubin's remarks carried almost as much weight as his
playing. He is an engaging, massively informed lecturer, and he speaks
in common-sense terms that anyone can grasp. I learned a lot, and you
will, too, if you attend the repeat performance at 4 p.m. today or the
"Breakfast with Beethoven" event at the conservatory at 10 a.m. Monday.
Call (414) 258-6133 for tickets and information.
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Archive:
2007-'08 SEASON ‘Home girl’ Parsley back at it with more hausmusik
By TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: June 12, 2007
Joan Parsley resuscitated her Musical Offering last
year by staying close to home. Really close.
She decked out her Wauwatosa home in Biedermeier
style, with a nod toward the Milwaukee Art Museum’s spectacular
Biedermeier show.
She hosted programs of hausmusik, the stuff that
dedicated amateurs played in middle- and upper-class households and that
professionals played in home salons starting in about 1820.
Parsley was so pleased with the hausmusik series that
she’s putting on a second year of it, titled "A Little More Hausmusik:
Chamber Music in 19th Century London, Vienna and Paris."
One program will take place at the Wisconsin
Conservatory; the rest will be in Parsley’s home or other private homes
to be arranged. All programs will begin at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and
Sundays. The address is 157 N. 87th St., just off I-94 (Exit 306) in
Wauwatosa.
• On Oct. 28 and 29, Ensemble Musical Offering will
play music by Mozart. The program includes the Quartet in C KV 285B (Anh.
171) for Flute, Violin, Viola and Violoncello; the Sonata in C for Flute
and Clavier, KV 14; the Piano Trio in E, KV 542; and "Eine Kleine
Nachtmusik." The ensemble comprises Paul Jacobson, flute; Gesa Kordes,
violin; William Bauer, viola; and Debra Lonergan, cello. All will play
instruments authentic to the Classical period.
• Fortepianist Steven Lubin, an important Beethoven
scholar and interpreter, will give an all-Beethoven recital on Dec. 8
and 9. He will play on a reproduction of a Viennese 6 ½-octave Graf
fortepiano, built by Rod Regier and on loan from The Schubert Club
collection of St. Paul. Beethoven took ownership of just such an
instrument in 1825. Lubin will play Sonatas opus 53 ("Waldstein"), 54
and 57 ("Appassionata"). On the morning of Dec. 10 at a time to be
determined, Lubin will give a lecture demonstration and master class.
Lubin’s events will be held in the intimate concert
hall of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 1584 N. Prospect Ave., with
seating arranged around the player and the instrument. The conservatory
fits the hausmusik idea; the conservatory building began life as a
private residence.
• At 4 p.m. on Dec. 29 and 30, contralto Cornelia
Beilke and Parsley, alternating between fortepiano and an Italian
harpsichord, will present music from the Bach family circle, including
selections from C.P.E. Bach’s Character Pieces and art songs.
• The guitar had quite a vogue in Vienna in the 19th
century, and the instrument lends itself to the hausmusik aesthetic. On
March 15 and 16, classical guitarist Rene Izquierdo and Parsley will
play music by Beethoven and guitar virtuoso Ferdinando Carulli
(1770-1841). Repertoire includes Carulli’s Variations on Beethoven,
based on Beethoven’s Variations opus 66, in turn based on "Ein Mädchen
oder Webchen" from Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte."
Izquierdo is a member of the music faculty at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he has played several
successful recitals.
• The Mirabel String Quartet, a spinoff of Ensemble
Musical Offering, will play a Beethoven/Haydn program May 17 and 18. The
Mirabel comprises violinists Allison Edberg and Martha Perry, violist
William Bauer and cellist Debra Lonergan.
THE DETAILS
A subscription to all five events is $160, a 20%
discount on single ticket prices
To subscribe, send a check, payable to Musical
Offering Ltd., to 157 N. 87th St., Wauwatosa, WI 53226. Write
"subscription" on memo line of the check and enclose a note indicating a
preference for Saturday or Sunday seating. Subscribers are allowed to
mix days.
Single tickets are $35, except for the Lubin recital,
which is $50. Tickets to events in private homes must be purchased in
advance; tickets will not be sold at the door.
Traditional European desserts, coffee, green tea and a
pre-concert lecture will be part of each concert. The lecturers and
topics are to be announced. For more information, call Musical Offering
Ltd. at (414) 839-6195, e-mail
info@ensemblemusicaloffering.org
or visit www.ensemblemusicaloffering.org.
Copyright 2007, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights
reserved.
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Archive:
Wauwatosa home will play host to Biedermeier hausmusik
By TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: Oct. 25, 2006
Joan Parsley, late of the Historical
Keyboard Society, Musical Offering and Milwaukee Baroque, is back after
a 2 1/2 -year layoff from the concert business.
This time around, she's keeping it
close to home - as in her residence, 157 N. 87th St., Wauwatosa.
Parsley is presenting, hosting and
playing in a series inspired by the Biedermeier decor show at the
Milwaukee Art Museum. Parsley and her husband, German-culture expert Sy
Kreilein, have had their hallway, dining room and living room (or
Wohnzimmer, auf Deutsch) decorated in Biedermeier chic a la Vienna
circa 1830 for the series.
In those days, every Austrian
household from the middle class up had a piano, and musical soirees were
common. That's the sort of event Parsley is after in "In Harmony: At
Home with Biedermeier," which opens Saturday and runs through Dec. 31.
All programs will begin with a
traditional Viennese Jause, afternoon coffee with sweets (from
Alterra Coffee Roasters and George Watts Tea Shop). Lecturers Kimberly
Redding, Carroll Dittrich and Kreilein, in rotation throughout the
series, will speak on life and culture of the Biedermeier era.
Period instruments
Parsley has always been interested in
period instruments. For this series, she's providing her own copy of a
Viennese Stein fortepiano, and she's borrowed an 1810 "giraffe" upright
piano from Rita Bucheit Antiques of Chicago. The guitar was a favored
instrument of Biedermeier hausmusik; luthier Neal Ostberg has
lent an 1810 Martin with the slender body shape typical of early
19th-century Viennese guitars.
Some local players
Some of the players on the series,
starting with Parsley herself, are locals. But she has gone beyond
Wisconsin for some headliners, including the noted scholar-keyboard
player Steven Lubin of New York, the Mirabel String Quartet from St.
Louis and classical guitarist Nathan Wysock of the Eastman School of
Music in Rochester, N.Y.
Mozart and Schubert will no doubt be
on the bill, but so will composers common in that era but rare today:
Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, J.K. Mertz and Francois-Adrien Boildieu,
for example.
Copyright 2006, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights
reserved.
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